


Saving Face

by kolibris



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Caught in the Act, Fluff, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 08:54:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12339480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kolibris/pseuds/kolibris
Summary: Mishima accidentally discovers a PR nightmare.





	Saving Face

Mishima thought he was quick in the bathroom, but when he runs back into 2-D, Kurusu isn’t at his seat anymore.

He turns to Hajime, who always takes forever to go home after class ends. “Where’d Kurusu go?”

“He left already,” says Hajime, without even looking up.

Mishima huffs to himself. This is just getting annoying. He already texted Kurusu about this request yesterday; it’s pretty serious, this guy’s trying to draft first-years into a fight club, and Kurusu didn’t even bother to respond. He’s so flaky with his texting. Well, if Kurusu won’t come to him, then _he_ will go to Kurusu.

Mishima doesn’t do a lot of things right, but even he can admit that his persistence makes him a damn good image representative.

He hunts around for a bit in the hall before his eyes are drawn over to the upper staircase – oh, right, he thought he saw Sakamoto heading up there earlier. Mishima wonders what he’d need to do on the first-years’ floor before he remembers that Sakamoto hung out on the rooftop sometimes, but that was a while ago and Mishima didn’t think he was still doing it. He follows the stairs up too because out of everyone, Sakamoto’s got to be the one keeping the best tabs on Kurusu.

As he rounds the corner of the last steps up to the rooftop, Mishima hears some strange noises, something that sounds kind of like talking and something that doesn’t. He starts to get nervous, like maybe there’s someone totally different there instead, because what if Sakamoto didn’t even come all the way up here? But he can’t punk out now, not when he’s got to do his due diligence in at least checking, so he walks up the rest of the way anyway and...

And. Um.

Sakamoto’s crammed into a corner next to a mop because there’s a guy pinning him there, and they’re kissing, and they have their hands in very compromising positions around their lower halves, and then Sakamoto’s eyes are bugging out because he’s staring straight back at him. The other guy turns around too, the whites of his eyes huge and visible even behind his glasses, and Mishima realizes he’s finally found Kurusu.

Now he’s going to have to lose Kurusu again, because they are 100% going to kill him for seeing this.

He’s running on sheer instincts as he takes off for the practice building, slamming hard through the double doors, but even those fail him when he panics and races right past the staircase. Mishima grasps for a plan B – the emergency exit has gotta be open, right? It has to be – but he can already hear sneakers squeaking up freakishly fast behind him and oh no no _no_ , he is _so_ screwed, he didn’t learn his lesson from the last time he tried to outrun Sakamoto. 

Mishima’s finally cornered in front of Calligraphy, and the nearby stragglers, those first-years he’s trying so hard to save, all scatter as soon as Sakamoto and Kurusu tower over him. No one wants to stay for the inevitable bloodbath, especially when Sakamoto hollers out, “MISHIMA!” at full volume – but Mishima realizes he looks less mad and more very, very red. “What the hell were you doin’ there like that?!”

“I just…” Mishima mumbles, hands all balled up. He was just trying to do his job.

“You better come up with a damn good reason real fast—”

“It wasn’t what it looked like, really,” Kurusu pipes up, “his pants ripped and I was fixing them—”

“—I swear to god, Mishima, you say one effin’ _word_ —”

“What are you guys thinking?! You can’t—not at _school!_ ” Mishima’s so loud it stops them cold, even surprises himself actually, so he quickly lowers his voice again. “You know PDA’s against the rules. What’s going to happen to the Phantom Thieves if you get caught and thrown out?”

“Huh?” Sakamoto straightens up. “W-Wait, what are you sayin’?”

“I’m saying you can’t do all these requests if you get expelled!”

“I’d imagine that’d be pretty bad,” Kurusu says. “I mean, assuming we were phantom thieves.”

“Right, so be smart about it. Kiss each other somewhere else, don’t do it here. Okay?” There, that makes Sakamoto finally step back out of his space. Now he just looks more confused than anything. “Look, you guys just go home before we all look even more suspicious. Don’t worry though, I can plant a good cover story for chasing me around like that... I don’t know, something believable. Oh, and I’ll keep a closer eye on the Phansite today, just in case there’s any negative coverage.”

It makes perfect sense to Mishima, but Sakamoto keeps shooting bewildered looks between him and Kurusu like he didn’t get it at all. “Uh, so, for the record, I totally don’t know what any of this… uhh, ‘Phantom Thieves’ crap is...” he trails off before leaning in with bright eyes, “but seriously, you can fix shit like that for us? What’re you, some freakin’ mob boss now?”

“Oh, I can clean up a lot,” Mishima says, “but you have to protect your images too. I can’t always be there for you guys.”

“For sure, you just do what you gotta do. And are you talkin’ like, only this one thing? ‘Cause I swear someone heard us once in the bathroom—”

“ _Ryuji_ ,” Kurusu warns.

“—Soooo, good lookin’ out for us, man! Appreciate it.” He claps Mishima on the arm before turning to Kurusu. “Hey, you heard him. Let’s go.”

“Yeah.” Kurusu looks at Mishima almost fondly. “Thanks.”

A good producer doesn’t need to be told he’s done a good job, but Mishima still puffs his chest out, just a little bit. “No problem.” And his head might’ve gotten swelled up too, with how he calls out at their backs when they leave, “And Kurusu! Answer your texts!”

The chime that comes from his phone later is the second best thing he’s heard all day.

**Author's Note:**

> This could have all been avoided if Akira and Ryuji didn’t spend all day sending each other dirty shit in chat. Don’t sext in class, kids.
> 
> (still dead, but the bigger stuff is coming along. hopefully a tiny fic is still good! thanks for reading!)


End file.
